CAPE ELIZABETH — The School Board has hired a new principal to lead Cape Elizabeth Middle School next school year.

The board on Tuesday night announced that Michael Tracy will begin work July 1. Tracy will leave his current position as principal of Newbury Elementary School in Newbury, Mass., to join the Cape Elizabeth school system.

“I’m very excited and glad to get the appointment and I’m looking forward to getting there and starting a new principalship,” Tracy said Wednesday.

Tracy, originally from Massachusetts, has been principal at Newbury since 2010. The school has about 600 students and 85 staff members.

Previously, he worked at Ralph B. O’Maley Middle School in Gloucester, Mass., for about a decade, serving first as assistant principal from 2000-2005, then as principal until 2010.

Although Tracy does not have experience working in Maine schools, he earned his undergraduate degree from Colby College in Waterville. In 2000, he received a master’s degree in education from Lesley College in Cambridge, Mass., followed by a doctorate in educational administration from Boston College in 2005.

Tracy said he looks forward to moving to Maine.

“I certainly hope to sustain the reputation for educational excellence, and to come in and observe and listen and follow the values and priorities the schools already have,” he said. “And to get a sense of what’s important to the community.”

Tracy succeeds former Principal Steve Connolly, who resigned in October 2012 to become superintendent of schools in Regional School Unit 60, which serves the communities of North Berwick, Berwick and Lebanon.

Assistant Principal Doug Perley has been serving as interim principal since Connolly’s resignation.

Will Graff can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 123 or wgraff@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @W_C_Graff.